Cleanthony Early spent the first half of Wichita State’s upset of top-seeded Gonzaga last weekend scoring over Kelly Olynyk.

Early, the Shockers’ 6-8 junior college transfer, looked like he was calmly dropping jumpers over his 6-foot teammate Malcolm Armstead instead of over Olynyk, the 7-foot Sporting News first-team All-American and future NBA lottery pick.

Cleanthony Early has made a smooth transition to Wichita State, highlighted by his performance against Gonzaga's Kelly Olynyk. (AP Photo)

Early knocked down a 3-pointer in front of Olynyk from the top of the key with 10:27 left in the first half, then less than two minutes later, he faked a drive on Olynyk, then spun and hit a 15-foot fadeaway over the big man’s outstretched arms.

Early’s no-fear approach helped set the tone in what has been one of the signature upsets of this NCAA Tournament, a 76-70 win for the Shockers.

“He’s a great scorer,” teammate Demetric Williams says. “That’s what he does for this team. That’s what he knows he needs to bring.”

Early knows that, and his teammates know that, and his coaches know that.

When he’s playing well, Early is a sight to behold. He scored 39 points against Southern Illinois on Jan. 9 and has topped the 20-point plateau six times this season. He leads the Shockers in scoring (13.9 points per game) and in dunks (18), and he is second on the team in made 3-pointers (43).

His first season at Wichita State, though, hasn’t always been easy.

“It’s been tough,” Early says. “I’d never been coached like this in my life. It’s a whole new level. It’s a harder game, it’s a faster game and it’s a stronger game. It’s been a tough adjustment, but that’s what life is about in general, tough adjustments.”

Early played one season of prep basketball at Mount Zion Academy in Durham, N.C., and then two at Sullivan County Community College, near Middleton, N.Y. He chose to play there to be close to his mother. He excelled on the basketball court, averaging 20.4 points per game as a freshman and 24.2 as a sophomore; he was named the NJCAA Division III player of the year after both seasons.

Part of the adjustment at Wichita State has been dealing with the ramped-upped practices of head coach Gregg Marshall.

“He’s intense. He’s in your face. He’s going to tell you how it is,” Early says. “But that’s good for you, especially when you can respond in a way to listen to the message and not how it’s said.”

And part of the adjustment has been dealing with the jump from low-level juco to Division I basketball.

“I’m glad he has allowed us to coach him the way we have,” Marshall says. “He’s gotten better from day one to now, but he still has a lot more room to grow, which is exciting for a coach.”

Also, foul trouble's been especially frustrating. Early has been whistled for at least three fouls 20 times this season, and he’s fouled out three times. In a loss to Tennessee in December, he scored two points and fouled out in 17 minutes. During the Missouri Valley Tournament, he had just 15 points—and 11 fouls—combined in the three games.

“It’s being mentally locked in, and mentally focused,” Early says. “(Teammates) always say when I’m locked in, they can tell, and when I’m not, or when I’m distracted by certain things, they can tell. I’ve just got to stay in the game and keep my head.”

There was a moment in that Gonzaga game that could have been a turning point for Early. After those two big shots over Olynyk, he picked up a pair of fouls in less than a minute of clock time. The second one, a questionable whistle that went against Early, drew an immediate response from Armstead, the Shockers’ senior point guard.

Armstead ran over and grabbed a clearly annoyed Early, looked him in the eyes and told him to stay focused on the bench—with 6:20 left in the first half, the Shockers were up by 12, thanks in large part to eight points by Early—because his team was going to need him in the second half to pull off the upset.

“I knew he was going to stay focused,” Armstead said during Wichita State’s postgame celebration, “but I felt like that needed to be said to him. Maybe if he would have went to the sideline and there might have been some yelling or something like that, but at that time we didn’t need that. I needed to make sure he heard that before he even went off the floor, to let him know I’ve got his back as his brother.”

Early scored eight more points in the second half—all after Gonzaga had roared out to an eight-point lead about eight minutes after halftime—and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots, a steal and an assist in 24 minutes.

Without the words from Armstead, maybe he doesn’t maintain focus. But he did, and the Shockers upended the top-seeded Zags.

“You’ve just got to forget about those things,” Early says. “There’s a whole bunch of opportunities. You can’t worry about problems. When you worry about problems, more problems come. The more you think about opportunities or possibilities, the more you get.”

And the biggest basketball opportunity of his life—a Sweet 16 game with 13th-seeded La Salle—is now in front of Early and his always-reliable teammates.